Improvement in nail-plate feeders



2 S heefs- Sheet 1.

1. n. FINN- EY.

Nail-Plate Feeders, v N0,]48,20(), Q Patented March 3,1874.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

JOSEPH R. FINNEY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN NAIL-PLATE FEEDERS.

Specification forming part ofLetters Patent No. 148,200, dated March 3, 1874; application tiled February 25, 18?4.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH R. FINNEY, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Feeding Apparatus for Nail-Cutting Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to an automatic feed ing device for nail-cutting machines; and consists in a plate-chamber and feeding-tongs, which are raised by an eccentric, and turned or rotated by means of a wheel on their inner end, and geared into a reciprocating rack, which is operated by means of a curved disk, the plates from which the nails are out being fed to the nail-cutting machine through the feed-tongs by means of two feeding-racks operated by a pawl, ratchet-wheel, and a sectionwheel, and two wheels provided with coiled springs, all being so combined, arranged, and operating with relation to each other that when one rack is feeding a plate into and through the teed-tongs, the other rack will travel back for the purpose of taking another plate to carry it forward into the feed-ton gs.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe more fully its construction and operation. I

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of my specification, Figure 1 is a longitudinal and vertical section of my improve-- ment in feeding device at line y of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a top view or plan of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section at line 00 of Fig. 2. Fig. at is a rear-end elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is a detailed view of the feeding-racks and wheels which gear into them.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the frame of the machine, which may be constructed of wood or iron, preference being given to iron. B and 0 represent the two main driving-wheels. B are two cams, e and f, and on the axle of the wheel 0 is secured a curved disk, D, the periphery of which diverges from the right and left of the vertical line g shown in Fig. 4. It represents the plate-chamber of the machine,

On the axle of the wheel the inner bottom of which is provided with a guide, g, and rests upon springs, as indicated at j. This bottom carries the nail-plates upward. 70 represents the feeding-tongs, a short distance from the point of which is secured a grooved sleeve, 1, in which is placed a guideyoke, 2', pivoted to the side of the frame. This yoke and sleeve are used for the purpose of preventing any lateral motion, arid yet allow the point of the tongs to have a vertical and rotating motion. On the inner end of the tongs is secured a wheel, m, provided with a transverse opening, a, comm unicating with the plateopening in the tongs. The axle of the wheel m has its bearing in the cross-piece of the frame A. On the upper side of the frame are pivoted wheels 1", a, and w, and above the wheel a is a ratchet-wheel, w. The wheels 1" and w are provided with coil-springs s, for the purpose of causing them to operate the racks m and n, so that when the teeth of the wheel a pass out of gear with the teeth of the racks m and a, the racks will be carried back for the purpose of bringing forward from the platechamber h a fresh plate to the-tongs. Two parts of the periphery of the wheel a are provided with gear-teeth, which mesh into the gear-teeth of the racks m and a, the teeth on one side of the wheelu being so arranged that, prior to passing out of gear with the rack n,

the teeth on the other side of the wheel will come into gear with the teeth of the rack m. The racks m and n are provided with guiderods 8 and t, the inner end of guide-rod t being used for the purpose of forcing the plates into the feeding-tongs. On the upper end of the lever 0, which is pivoted at 00, is a pawl, y, the hooked end of which catches the teeth of the wheel w, and thereby rotates it, the pawl r preventing it from turning backward. e is an eccentric placed on the shaft to of the driving-wheel B, and is used for raising the point of thefeeding-tongs prior to their being turned,

through the medium of the disk D, rack l, and wheel m.

The operation of the hereinbefore-described feeding apparatus is as follows: The drivingwheel B is revolved through the medium of a pitman connected, in any suitable manner, to the cutting-jaw of the nail-cutting machine, as indicated at B, in Fig. 2. The revolving of the wheel l3 will revolve the wheel C and disk D, and the revolving of the disk D will iinpart to the rack l a reciprocating motion, thereby rotating the wheel m, which will rotate the feeding-tongs It. Prior to the tones being rotated, the eccentric c elevates their point by coming in contact with. the drain C. The cccentric f, on the shaft u of the driving-wheel 13, imparts to the lever 0 a reciprocating motion, which imparts a similar motion to the pawl g, which rotates the wheel 10, on the axle of which is secured the wheel a, which is rotated with the wheel 10, and operates the racks an and n, which turn the wheels u andi',thereby winding up the springs .w placed in them, the springs being attached to the side of the recess in the wheels and to their axes, so that when the wheel 11 passes out of gear with the rack n the wheel a will carry the rack forward toward the tones ll, carrying a plate from the plate-chamber and forcing it into the tongs through the transverse opening a in the wheel in. At this point the wheel it passes out of gear with the rack m, and the wheel 1' will carry the rack m iorward, so that the inner end of the eniderod t will force the plate through the ton ,Q'S which were brought forward by the part r of the rack n, the rack m having again become ceared with the wheel 11. i

The plate from which the nails are cut is moved forward in the tones to the nail-cutting iaai chine a distance equal to the throw of a single tooth of the rack mthat is to say, the numher and size of the nails made from each plate will depend on the number and size of the teeth on the rack m and the number of teeth on the wheel u for operating it.

The plates from which the nails are out are placed in the plate-chamber 71,, and the sprin j force upward the bottom upon which they rest, always keeping a plate in the proper plane for being, carried forward by the rack 11, as hereinbei'ore described.

Having thus described my improvements what I claim as of my invention is 1. The tongs k, lifted and rotated by the eccentric 0, wheel m, rack o, and disk D, in combination with the mechanism liereinbefore described for feeding '[llGllt'l-llfllltttG forward to the cutters, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with the tongs k, the platechamber 11, the racks m and a, wheels '1' and u', section-wheel u and ratchet-wheel tr, pawl and stop-pawl '1", lever 0, and eccentric], all constructed, arranged, and operating with relation to each other, substantially as herein described, and for the purpose set forth.

J. R. FINNEY.

Witnesses:

James J. JOHNSTON, Jxo. I). li-r'r'rnn. 

